Jamie John Lawrence, 26, sentenced for possessing child exploitation material

A man found with child exploitation images has told a court he “hadn’t gotten around” to deleting the images after an ex-boyfriend made him save them to his phone.

A man found with almost 30 child abuse images on his mobile phone said he “hadn’t gotten around” to deleting the images after a former boyfriend made him save the pictures.

Jamie John Lawrence told Ipswich District Court he was not sexually aroused by the 28 child exploitation images found on his phone.

They were on his phone when he was dating a “dominating and violent” older man, the court heard.

The Crown prosecutor, Mr Galloway, said the images came to light when another person was using Lawrence’s phone and contacted police in November last year.

A search warrant was executed and police examined Lawrence’s phone and found 28 unique images.

The court heard Lawrence, then aged 25, told police he “hadn’t gotten around” to deleting the images.

Lawrence pleaded guilty on Thursday to one charge of possessing child exploitation images.

Defence barrister Allana Davie said Lawrence’s offending was at the lower end of the scale and said he had co-operated with police.

Ms Davie said Lawrence predominantly worked in “menial jobs” but had an offer to begin a traffic controller job depending on the outcome of his sentence.

She said Lawrence was willing to see a psychologist but could not afford the initial appointment. He would be willing to engage with a probation order.

Judge Dennis Lynch said Lawrence’s version of the offending and how the images came to be on his phone was accepted.

He said Lawrence was not interested in the images but they were on his phone at the “insistence” of his former partner, who was “dominating and violent” in the relationship.

Justice Lynch said child exploitation material offences were not victimless crimes and real children were abused for the production of the images.

Lawrence was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and no conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Jamie John Lawrence, 26, sentenced for possessing child exploitation material